Scottish Executive

Central Heating

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what date funding will be made available for the central heating initiative in (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney and (d) Shetland for (i) local authority properties, (ii) housing association properties and (iii) households in the private sector.

Jackie Baillie: The resources for the central heating programme have been allocated for 2001-02 and will be made available during that year.

Central Heating

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12904 by Jackie Baillie on 13 February 2001, whether, following housing stock transfer, the requirement on new landlords to install central heating will be (a) statutory, (b) funded from the Executive’s central heating programme and (c) subject to a timetable.

Jackie Baillie: Tenants who transfer to community ownership will receive central heating as part of the overall investment by the new landlord. The Scottish Executive will ensure that proposals for transfer will deliver the installation of central heating in houses which do not have it on the same timescale as the Executive’s central heating initiative.

Community Care

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement the recommendation of the Sutherland Commission and of the Health and Community Care Committee in its 16th Report 2000, Inquiry into the Delivery of Community Care in Scotland , that a single body should be given the role of budget holding, planning and commissioning of community care services and, if so, when.

Malcolm Chisholm: Our position on this, as on other recommendations of the Health and Community Care Committee, is as set out in the response we provided to the committee on 24 January. The response was debated in Parliament on 14 February.

Council Tax

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish, for each local authority area, the numbers of councillors, broken down by political party, who were in arrears of council tax and debarred from participating in the budget setting process for 2001-02.

Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.

Energy

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to buy into the proposed Carbon Trust element of the UK Energy Efficiency Fund.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Yes. We are discussing with various interested parties the proposed structure of the Carbon Trust, and in particular how it will complement the Scottish Executive’s existing services to businesses delivered by the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office, and the advice delivered by the Energy Saving Trust.

Energy Efficiency

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes it intends to fund with the £9.66 million allocated to it over the next three years from the UK Energy Efficiency Fund; whether it intends to make any of this funding available to businesses, and, if so, whether it will provide details.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The funding will be used to support energy efficiency and to further the development of renewable energy in Scotland. Discussions will be held with the Carbon Trust, the Energy Saving Trust and other bodies with an interest on how to enhance the delivery of energy efficiency advice to Scottish businesses to complement the existing work of the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office; and how best to support new renewable energy technologies. An announcement of the outcome will be made in due course.

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13091 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 9 March 2001, how much planned inward investment and how many projects involving inward investment were attracted to (a) Kilmarnock and Loudoun and (b) Hamilton North and Bellshill in 1999-2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The information requested is contained in the table below:

  


Constituency 
  

Number 
  

Total Investment 
  

New/Safeguarded Planned Jobs 
  



Kilmarnock and Loudon 
  

2 
  

£6,851,000 
  

885 
  



Hamilton North and Bellshill 
  

3 
  

£6,017,000 
  

206

Food Safety

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Food Standards Agency allowed 21 tonnes of beef carcase from Spain to be released from an abattoir in Dundee into general circulation when spinal cord was found in part of the consignment; if so, on what basis it did so, and what assurances can be given that the consignment is safe.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency has confirmed that part of a consignment of beef from Spain imported to an abattoir in Dundee was released into general circulation after it had been subject to thorough checks by MHS officials. Two beef forequarters found to contain spinal cord were not allowed to enter the food chain and were destroyed. The agency has informed me that there was no food safety reason to prevent any beef entering the food chain that met the rigorous inspection standards in place for all imported and domestically produced meat. Thorough inspections by MHS staff had shown the other carcase portions were free of all specified risk material (SRM).

Food Safety

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the beef carcase consignment from Spain sent to an abattoir in Dundee was affected by spinal cord.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency advises that two beef forequarters out of a total consignment of 79 carcases (158 sides) were found to contain spinal cord.

Food Safety

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in how many instances spinal cord has been found in abattoirs in the past year.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency advises that there have been 17 occasions where spinal cord has been discovered in cutting premises in the UK since April 2000. This includes a single find in Scotland on 7 March where two quarters out of a consignment of 79 carcases (158 sides) from Spain were found to contain spinal cord. In addition, there have been two occasions in this period where spinal cord was found in domestically produced health-marked sheep carcases.

Food Safety

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of beef carcase has to be affected by spinal cord before a consignment will be discarded.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency has advised that any individual part of a carcase found to contain spinal cord will be destroyed. Following rigorous inspection to determine that there has been no contamination of other parts, there is no basis in law for rejecting the rest of the consignment and preventing it from entering the food chain.

Food Safety

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the Food Standards Agency’s policy is with regard to spinal cord being found in consignments of beef.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Food Standards Agency enforces strict controls to ensure that spinal cord and other designated specified risk material (SRM) in beef is removed from the food supply. This applies equally to imported and domestically produced beef. Where SRM is found the beef is removed from the food chain.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any discussions have taken place, or are planned, with visitscotland regarding the promotion of tourism in rural areas and, in particular, in those areas affected by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: We are in close contact with visitscotland, which is finalising, in partnership with area tourist boards, a recovery plan for the tourism industry. This will include launching the postponed £2 million spring campaign and specific help for Dumfries and Galloway.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any discussions have taken place, or are planned, with Scottish Enterprise regarding the problems faced by rural enterprises as a result of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Executive is in daily contact with Scottish Enterprise, and especially Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway, to discuss the implications of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak on the economy. Both organisations are represented on the Executive’s Foot and Mouth Impact Assessment Group, which has now met twice. In addition, the Executive is in discussion with Scottish Enterprise on a series of measures to assist businesses on the immediate difficulties they face and to help in the recovery of the rural economy.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Health Education Board for Scotland and the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health have any plans to review the advice given on HIV to people planning overseas travel.

Malcolm Chisholm: The HIV Health Promotion Strategy, published by the Executive in January this year, recommended that the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health and the Health Education Board for Scotland should review current arrangements for advice on HIV to travellers. This is now in train.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit, funding and objectives are of the Scottish School of Primary Care.

Susan Deacon: The remit of the Scottish School of Primary Care is to promote and co-ordinate primary care research activity and to increase research capacity, in order to provide the high quality research evidence needed to inform decisions made by practitioners, managers and patients.

  The school receives £100,000 per year to fund administration costs during its foundation phase. The school will in the future be responsible for co-ordinating research grant awards of approximately £1.2 million over three years.

  The school’s objectives are to co-ordinate primary care research activities, identify gaps in current research, stimulate collaborative studies and consider ways of improving the implementation of research findings. It will also seek to increase the number of researchers involved in primary care research and development activities across Scotland and enhance the accessibility of research education and training.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether consideration will be given to providing direct funding for local health care co-operatives.

Susan Deacon: We have stated in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change that we intend to develop primary care services and strengthen the role of local health care co-operatives (LHCCs). We intend to build on the successes of LHCCs and, within the next few months, set out the next steps in their development.

  The work of the LHCC Best Practice Group has identified a substantial range of service improvements. Audit Scotland has also carried out an evaluation of LHCCs’ range of activities. Reports from both pieces of work are expected shortly and will, together with other related work, inform what the Executive does next on this issue.

Justice

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions for the supply of drugs there have been in each parliamentary constituency in each year since 1987.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information held centrally on the number of convicted persons whose main offence was supply or possession with intent to supply drugs cannot be broken down by parliamentary constituency. The available information relates to convictions by court and is given in the table.

  Persons with a charge proved for supply of drugs (main offence), 1987-99

  





Year 
  



Court type 
  

1987 
  

1988 
  

1989 
  

1990 
  

1991 
  

1992 
  

1993 
  

1994 
  

1995 
  

1996 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  



Sheriff court 
  






Aberdeen 
  

4 
  

9 
  

8 
  

25 
  

31 
  

38 
  

46 
  

48 
  

71 
  

52 
  

74 
  

96 
  

83 
  



Airdrie 
  

1 
  

3 
  

5 
  

8 
  

10 
  

5 
  

17 
  

38 
  

39 
  

19 
  

34 
  

33 
  

33 
  



Alloa 
  

1 
  

4 
  

2 
  

9 
  

4 
  

14 
  

11 
  

6 
  

9 
  

21 
  

14 
  

18 
  

25 
  



Arbroath 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

9 
  

13 
  

5 
  

8 
  

7 
  

12 
  

10 
  

5 
  

9 
  



Ayr 
  

2 
  

3 
  

3 
  

4 
  

2 
  

6 
  

14 
  

27 
  

21 
  

28 
  

16 
  

21 
  

27 
  



Banff 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

5 
  

2 
  

1 
  

2 
  

2 
  

3 
  

2 
  



Campbeltown 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  

1 
  



Cupar 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

3 
  

4 
  

2 
  

13 
  

6 
  

14 
  

10 
  

8 
  

9 
  



Dingwall 
  

2 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

3 
  

4 
  

3 
  

4 
  

6 
  

6 
  



Dornoch 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

2 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  



Dumbarton 
  

2 
  

5 
  

6 
  

7 
  

15 
  

7 
  

13 
  

22 
  

27 
  

29 
  

24 
  

33 
  

28 
  



Dumfries 
  

7 
  

5 
  

2 
  

3 
  

13 
  

8 
  

20 
  

19 
  

15 
  

32 
  

43 
  

24 
  

20 
  



Dundee 
  

9 
  

20 
  

16 
  

23 
  

22 
  

24 
  

9 
  

13 
  

14 
  

14 
  

33 
  

27 
  

21 
  



Dunfermline 
  

2 
  

6 
  

5 
  

9 
  

6 
  

7 
  

8 
  

14 
  

15 
  

19 
  

26 
  

32 
  

26 
  



Dunoon 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

1 
  

1 
  

5 
  

3 
  

3 
  

5 
  



Duns 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  

1 
  



Edinburgh 
  

20 
  

15 
  

26 
  

26 
  

42 
  

53 
  

81 
  

66 
  

48 
  

60 
  

83 
  

147 
  

112 
  



Elgin 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  

9 
  

8 
  

6 
  

5 
  

12 
  

20 
  

11 
  

12 
  



Falkirk 
  

3 
  

4 
  

11 
  

7 
  

19 
  

11 
  

7 
  

21 
  

27 
  

25 
  

24 
  

29 
  

28 
  



Forfar 
  

1 
  

1 
  

2 
  

4 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  

9 
  

6 
  

3 
  

12 
  

13 
  

6 
  



Fort William 
  

5 
  

1 
  

3 
  

2 
  

- 
  

2 
  

3 
  

9 
  

5 
  

9 
  

6 
  

6 
  

5 
  



Glasgow 
  

65 
  

86 
  

109 
  

166 
  

177 
  

153 
  

121 
  

187 
  

245 
  

363 
  

370 
  

326 
  

357 
  



Greenock 
  

5 
  

5 
  

12 
  

12 
  

12 
  

16 
  

21 
  

29 
  

21 
  

54 
  

36 
  

45 
  

39 
  



Haddington 
  

2 
  

- 
  

1 
  

3 
  

1 
  

1 
  

6 
  

3 
  

5 
  

5 
  

4 
  

6 
  

6 
  



Hamilton 
  

5 
  

6 
  

10 
  

11 
  

17 
  

20 
  

27 
  

38 
  

40 
  

55 
  

56 
  

65 
  

46 
  



Inverness 
  

13 
  

10 
  

3 
  

5 
  

6 
  

6 
  

12 
  

14 
  

12 
  

21 
  

10 
  

30 
  

10 
  



Jedburgh 
  

2 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

4 
  

8 
  

1 
  

4 
  

15 
  

6 
  

4 
  



Kilmarnock 
  

5 
  

3 
  

9 
  

6 
  

16 
  

12 
  

18 
  

30 
  

44 
  

50 
  

40 
  

44 
  

38 
  



Kirkcaldy 
  

1 
  

6 
  

13 
  

10 
  

13 
  

12 
  

18 
  

20 
  

36 
  

27 
  

37 
  

31 
  

31 
  



Kirkcudbright 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

3 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

6 
  

4 
  

5 
  

7 
  

3 
  

3 
  



Kirkwall 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

1 
  

1 
  

2 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

5 
  



Lanark 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

4 
  

3 
  

3 
  

3 
  

4 
  

7 
  

8 
  



Lerwick 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

8 
  

3 
  

3 
  

- 
  

1 
  

2 
  



Linlithgow 
  

2 
  

2 
  

4 
  

5 
  

3 
  

20 
  

21 
  

18 
  

10 
  

21 
  

32 
  

27 
  

29 
  



Lochmaddy 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  



Oban 
  

1 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  

4 
  

1 
  

3 
  

- 
  

5 
  

3 
  

4 
  

4 
  

4 
  



Paisley 
  

10 
  

5 
  

6 
  

8 
  

12 
  

13 
  

29 
  

27 
  

48 
  

49 
  

48 
  

57 
  

31 
  



Peebles 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  



Perth 
  

7 
  

15 
  

6 
  

4 
  

9 
  

9 
  

37 
  

26 
  

28 
  

27 
  

30 
  

51 
  

49 
  



Peterhead 
  

- 
  

- 
  

4 
  

5 
  

- 
  

1 
  

9 
  

8 
  

11 
  

4 
  

22 
  

14 
  

8 
  



Portree 
  

- 
  

- 
  

3 
  

4 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

3 
  

1 
  

4 
  

4 
  

1 
  



Rothesay 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

2 
  

2 
  

- 
  



Selkirk 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

3 
  

5 
  

1 
  

7 
  

3 
  

8 
  

3 
  



Stirling 
  

4 
  

6 
  

5 
  

4 
  

6 
  

5 
  

20 
  

15 
  

6 
  

16 
  

20 
  

13 
  

16 
  



Stonehaven 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

2 
  

3 
  

4 
  

3 
  

7 
  

7 
  

12 
  

4 
  

4 
  

3 
  



Stornoway 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

3 
  

- 
  

2 
  

1 
  

6 
  

3 
  

5 
  



Stranraer 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

4 
  

2 
  

1 
  

1 
  

4 
  

5 
  

6 
  

9 
  

5 
  



Tain 
  

2 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

3 
  

3 
  

2 
  

1 
  

4 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  

4 
  



Wick 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

2 
  

1 
  

3 
  

4 
  

2 
  

1 
  

2 
  

2 
  



Total Sheriff Court 
  

185 
  

228 
  

282 
  

386 
  

469 
  

490 
  

623 
  

787 
  

874 
  

1,110 
  

1,205 
  

1,286 
  

1,169 
  



High court 
  

135 
  

104 
  

94 
  

105 
  

123 
  

165 
  

202 
  

132 
  

190 
  

273 
  

285 
  

242 
  

297 
  



Other court type 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  



Total 
  

320 
  

333 
  

376 
  

491 
  

593 
  

655 
  

825 
  

919 
  

1,064 
  

1,383 
  

1,490 
  

1,529 
  

1,466

Justice

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many seizures of illegal drugs have been made along the north east coast of Scotland since 1987.

Mr Jim Wallace: The number of drug seizures made by Grampian Police is given in the table. More detailed information is not available centrally.

  Number of seizures made by Grampian Police, 1987-98

  


Year 
  

Number of seizures 
  



1987 
  

145 
  



1988 
  

138 
  



1989 
  

297 
  



1990 
  

324 
  



1991 
  

591 
  



1992 
  

596 
  



1993 
  

703 
  



1994 
  

1,036 
  



1995 
  

1,125 
  



1996 
  

1,391 
  



1997 
  

1,518 
  



1998 
  

1,681

Ministerial Correspondence

Mr Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Rural Development will reply to my letter dated 7 February 2001 regarding Mr A Will.

Ross Finnie: I replied to the member on 21 March 2001.

Ministerial Correspondence

Mr Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12300 by Mr Jim Wallace on 26 January 2001, when the Minister for Justice will reply to my letter dated 10 November 2000 regarding Mrs S Murdoch.

Mr Jim Wallace: A reply was issued on 15 March 2001.

NHS Staff

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust to fund the salaries of the nurses, doctors and support workers currently employed at the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Centre, Woolmanhill Hospital, Aberdeen.

Susan Deacon: It is for the NHS in Grampian to decide how to deploy the increased resources which the Executive is making available.

Occupational Therapy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled posts there currently are for (a) NHS occupational therapists and (b) social work occupational therapists.

Susan Deacon: There were 34.7 whole-time equivalent (WTE) vacant posts for qualified occupational therapists in NHSScotland at 31 March 2000, the latest date for which data are available centrally. Of these, 14.7 WTE had been vacant for more than three months.

  There are currently no centrally held data for vacant posts for occupational therapists within local authority social work departments.

Police

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make additional funding available to Strathclyde Police to meet any additional costs resulting from the Efficient Consumer Response Conference at the SECC in May 2001.

Mr Jim Wallace: It is for the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police in consultation with the Strathclyde Joint Police Board to determine priorities within the force’s budget. Funding for the police under section 32 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 is allocated in total to each force and is not earmarked by the Executive for specific purposes.

Prison Service

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what support is being given to the Scottish Prison Service to reduce the potential for HIV transmission in prisons.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  We are grateful to the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Health Education Board for Scotland and Health Board Consultants in Public Health Medicine for supporting us in developing policies to reduce the potential for HIV transmission in prisons.

Public Ministerial Meetings

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost is of its current public meetings exercise involving the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister including the money allocated for market research, hiring facilities and publicity.

Mr Tom McCabe: The total cost of a series of "Question Time" events will not be known until it is complete. So far, only one event has taken place, in Inverness. No further events in the series have yet been scheduled. To keep overall costs down, it is expected that these events will be associated with other engagements in the same locality.

  Care is being taken to ensure that audiences are properly representative of the local population, so that ministers can receive some valuable and reasonably reliable feedback on their policies. Assembling audiences on this basis is likely to involve a competitive tendering process among suitable contractors. I will write to Mr Harding once the outcome of that process is known.

Regulation

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12915 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 13 February 2001, whether any regulations have been amended or repealed as a result of the work of the Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit, specifying any such regulations.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Improving Regulation in Scotland (IRIS) Unit can make the most telling contribution by ensuring that the Scottish Executive takes fully into account the need for all regulations to be proportionate and fit for purpose. With this aim, the unit has assisted Scottish Executive Departments in the development of over 70 regulations and the drafting of Regulatory Impact Assessments that have been produced for each. The unit is also currently pursuing suggestions from members of the Small Business Consultative Group for regulatory change in a number of areas that could be reviewed with a view to possible amendment, repeal on devolved matters or representations being made on reserved matters.

Vaccines

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-2982 by Susan Deacon on 15 February 2001, when it currently expects the BCG vaccination programme to recommence.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13933 on 23 March 2001.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Tartan Day

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer what the travel arrangements are for the representatives of the Parliament attending the Tartan Day celebrations in Washington DC, USA.

Sir David Steel: Representatives of the Scottish Parliament’s cross party delegation will travel to Washington DC, USA, via Dublin, on Monday 2 April and will be returning, via Dublin, on Monday 9 April.